The Journal

Stories worth opening

Notes on the bars, makers, and places behind the archive.

originRami

Piura, Unscored

Fifteen bars from one Peruvian region, and not a single member has weighed in yet.

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Photo: Kızıldeniz / CC BY-SA 4.0

originRami

Maya Mountain Has Two Reviews. They Both Score 4.5.

Nine bars in the archive, one bar reviewed, and a number worth watching carefully.

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Photo: ICCFO / CC BY-SA 4.0

originRami

The Archive's Biggest Origin Has Almost No Scores Yet

46 bars, one review. The Dominican Republic is the largest origin group in the archive, and members have barely touched it.

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Photo: CT Cooper / Public domain

originRami

Venezuela, Followed Closely

Thirty-five bars in the archive trace back here. That number alone tells you something.

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Photo: Reg2bug / CC BY-SA 3.0

originRami

The Island That Tastes Like Fruit

Thirty-three bars in the archive share a Madagascar origin. The makers behind them keep reaching for the same comparison: red berries, citrus, stone fruit. That's not coincidence.

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Photo: Otuo-Akyampong Boakye / CC BY-SA 4.0

makerRami

Marou and the Map of Vietnam

Twenty-five bars, one country, and a catalog that names the province on every wrapper.

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makerRami

Unroasted, On Purpose

Raaka skips the roaster. Here is what that actually means for the 25 bars in the archive.

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makerRami

One Maker, Many Latitudes

Bonnat's 24-bar catalog reads like a map held up to the light.

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makerRami

Mango Chili, Crème Brûlée, Mbingu

Soma's 34-bar catalog reads like a maker who refuses to pick a lane, and that turns out to be the point.

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makerRami

Forty-One Bars, One Obsession With Genetics

Domori's catalog reads less like a product range and more like a working library of cacao varieties.

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barIgor

Marana Cusco Dark 100%

No sugar, no softening. Just Chuncho cacao from the Quillabamba valley, doing all the work.

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barGrace

Soma's Mango Chili Bar Has a Complicated Score

Fruit and heat from a Thai street cart. Four members have weighed in, and the archive is still deciding.

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barHana

The Almond Argument

Domori's 35% bar makes a quiet case that cacao percentage is not the only number worth watching.

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barMilo

French Broad's Scorpion Pepper 72% Earns Its Name

Three members scored it. Not one backed down from the heat.

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barPriya

Quiet Water, Clear Flavor

Goodnow Farms' Ucayali 70% earns its balance the slow way: by boat.

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barOscar

Amedei Chuao 70%

The only bar in the archive that no member has scored yet.

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barMaya

The Bar Nobody Has Opened Yet

Amedei's Porcelana sits in the archive with a blank score sheet. That won't last.

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barJonas

Bonnat Maragnan Brazil 75%

A French house, a Brazilian river, and a bar that has earned a quiet following in the archive.

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barSofia

Sweetness First, Then the Kick

Theo & Philo's labuyo chili bar earns its 4.25 rating by making you wait for the heat.

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barFatima

The Rarest Name in Chocolate

Criollo accounts for 0.001% of the world's cacao. Here is what that means in a single bar.

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